Recently, hEARd brought you a series of hard-core bands from New York, which are breaking out of the mould set by many earlier hardcore acts & actually getting noticed by a great many fans around the world, perhaps something of a backlash. One of those bands featured in that article was Vision Of Disorder & I was recently fortunate enough to catch up with the band's frontman by phone for a chat about the band's immediate future.

First up, I'd heard about the band's rumoured visit to Australia & wondered what they knew about Australia & it's music.

"Wow man, you've really caught me short there, 'cause none of us really know much about Australia except for this place called The Outback Restaurant that's here & the people there tell us that what Australia is like is the experience we get at the restaurant, but I don't know man... I think we'll have to find out for ourselves. As for bands, we've like heard of Midnight Oil & silverchair, but that's pretty much it. We're looking forward to discovering some more stuff while we're out there."

As it's really a promotional tour, I asked if VOD has plans to do a proper tour or play at any of the festival events.

"We'd really like to. You mentioned The Big Day Out, which we've heard of a little, but The Livid Festival sounds really cool too. Perhaps someone will get us a proper tour with some other bands next year."

I asked how the band viewed the current rise of hardcore in the so-called mainstream.

"Too wicked... It's about time. It's sort of becoming a real groundswell sort of thing like hip hop. There's virtually no airplay apart from late night college radio here. The radio at the moment os sort of going stagnant like it was in the late 80s & early 90s. It needs something to break it out a bit & I think hardcore is the way it';s going to happen."

So, something like Nirvana's big breakthrough might happen then?

"I'm not going to say that any one band is going to explode the way Nirvana did, but hardcore as a music form I reckon is going to be the way it's going to happen."

The band's material is not only hardcore, but offers some great melodic material as well & I wondered where the band got their influences from.

"We've gotten our influences from all over & some of us like The Rolling Stones & I like Motley Crue, though I saw them on TV like the other week or so & the band still has it, but the vocals sounded terrible. Maybe it was an off night, but f it wasn't, the band should give it away."

What bands do you reckon are out there ready to go off at the moment then? Has the success of Korn helped open things up for bands like VOD?

"I think VOD is certainly in a position to get a move on, but I don't know whether radio will help us out. There's a few bands that are certainly heading up. We had a bit of experience with Korn, where we played with them, but they barely spoke to us. If I'm playin' anywhere, I always speak to everyone, 'cause that's the type of guy I am, I really get p$@#ed off when people don't talk. Big ups to 'em though, 'cause they've done really well & they obviously deserve their success, 'cause they've done it without really any radio play, just support from the fans. The fact that they've had such big success has to help all hardcore & metal bands & hopefully radio will now see that that's what the bands want."

Before saying goodbye, I had to put the usual question of how the Internet had affected the band & their music.

"Honestly, I don't think I've looked at the Internet for about 6 months, maybe more. I think it can help bands out individually & maybe it'll change the music industry, but it's a stack of chaos at the moment. It needs to get organised. I suppose it's going to happen, but when is anybody's guess."

Keep an eye out for Vision Of Disorder soon. Their latest album Imprint is available through Roadrunner Records.